By 11:10 a.m., smoke no longer was pouring from the building’s rooftop.

Ronald Colbert said he saw the smoke from several blocks away and then rushed over to get a better look.

“It was brown smoke, Colbert recalled. “Then, it turned white.”

Employees at Caruso Florist, the flower shop across the street, said the foul-smelling smoke began pouring out of the building without much warning. The shop’s employees, along with a few hundred more people, lined the sidewalk across from the building for a better look.